From Me To You
by Speedy1236
Summary: Sonic suddenly realizes it's this time of the year again already and he doesn't have any presents for his friends yet. That needs to be changed, pronto. And being the fastest thing alive doesn't help Sonic at all… - kind of fluffy Christmas two-shot
1. Part One

_Speedy's note: Hello everybody and welcome to this year's Christmas special. After a couple of people complained last year about me leaving out most details on presents, I've paid more attention to it this time. After all, the idea of giving presents to your family and friends is what I like best about Christmas.  
>Be warned, the following story is fluffy to the point where I myself am almost tempted to say it borders on kitchy… Anyway, I hope it turned out christmassy and stuff.<br>Thanks to my great friend BamfIsAwesome for helping me out with the title when I really couldn't find something. _:)_  
><em>

_Now, follow me to a house in the Mystic Ruins, in the not so early morning of a certain day that always comes so suddenly…_

* * *

><p><strong>From Me To You<br>**

**_Part One_  
><strong>

It was the world's biggest chilli dog. No doubt about it. It lay on something that looked suspiciously like my snowboard; two big, long and fine pieces of bread, and the sausage between them was probably as thick as my arm. And the smell… The _smell_! It was drilling into my nostrils, filling me up from head to toes. One deep inhale and I'd explode, I was sure.

The snowboard was being carried by four of Eggman's spinner robots. Made sense, one or two of the little things wouldn't be enough to handle this giant chilli dog. Finally I found out what the spinner bots were good for!

I waded through the deep snow around me, hands already stretching out to snatch a hold of this wonderful meal… But the spinners had stopped moving towards me. They were slowly floating away, taking the snowboard and chilli dog with them… I ran. I wanted that chilli dog! Really! But the snow I stood in reached up to my hips and it was as if someone had put glue to my soles…

In a desperate attempt to catch the last opportunity getting my chilli dog, I jumped after it, but the spinners suddenly changed colour from blue to green and electricity danced through the air around them. I curled up and twisted away to escape the miniature lightening bolts and –

Knocked my forehead against something hard. I groaned, not sure if it had been my head giving that dull sound or the thing it had hit. I lifted my left hand, fingering the forming bump, and the movement almost upset my balance completely. I hastily rolled over, getting some safe distance to my bed's edge. My head throbbed and for a moment I just dropped back into my pillows.

Wasn't that kind of ridiculous? World saviour and hero Sonic the Hedgehog almost killed by his bedside table thingy. A small smile flashed over my face at the thought and I finally looked around my room. It was dark; all you could see were a few shapes and shadows. I frowned and turned my head. Was it really that early?

The clock's glowing numerics claimed it was way past time to be standing up… And suddenly realization dawned in my still sleepy brain why it was so dark in here. My room had a pitched roof and the skylight was, like the entire rest of the house, covered in about a meter of snow.

I forced my limbs and quills out of the soft warmth of the blanket, threw a death glare it totally couldn't see at the little wooden table that had just dealt me a nice sore head, and searched for a way to get through the usual chaos in my room without seeing what exactly I stepped on, hoping on my good luck that I would neither damage the stuff nor my precious feet.

A minute later I had surprisingly managed to find myself some fresh clothing, and the way to the door. Everything outside my dark little place was terribly bright today and I was practically as blind as before. Another few minutes later when I got out of the bathroom at least my eyes had gotten used to daylight and I had persuaded my messy quills back into their usual stream-lined shape.

Just about to follow the call of my as always hungry stomach, I was strolling towards the kitchen when there came a weird, screeching noise from downstairs.

"Tails?"

Another long-drawn, ear-piercing screech. My ears had already folded tightly against my head and I zipped over to the stairs to take a look at what my little brother was doing there.

"Hey, Tails! You're not about to tear down this house while I'm still inside, are you?", I joked, leaning over the banisters to get a look at the hangar and workshop below.

"Hey, Sonic! Good morning!" Tails stood upright from where he had been pulling a long thing over the floor and cheerfully waved at me.

"Morning, bro." I jumped down the remaining stairs. "What are you doing?"

The two-tailed fox pointed. "I gotta get those runners under the Tornado."

Finally I recognized what Tails had been pushing so noisily through the room. It was one of those long things you could put on a plane instead of wheels to land on water (although I still didn't quite understand why you would want to do that) and on deep snow. "Ah. You're going for a flight?"

Tails nodded. "Yup. I promised Knuckles I'd pick him up."

"Ah. Cool." Knuckles. I knew I'd forgotten something… Wait, that meant it was already… Oops.

"Sonic? Hey! I was talking to you!" Tails was waving his hand in front of my face.

"I'm listening!", I insisted. "You need help with those?" I pointed at the runners.

My little brother grinned. "That was what I was asking you."

"Oh. Uh… sorry, I got some stuff on my mind, I guess…" I shrugged, feeling my ears tip downwards again.

"No problem." Tails giggled. "You wanna come with me, to the Floating Island?"

I shook my head, getting to the other side of the long runners. "Sorry, there's something I gotta do."

Tails shrugged. "Okay. Just be back in the evening, right?" He smiled.

"Hey, I'm the fastest thing alive." I laughed.

* * *

><p>Fastest thing alive or not, that didn't exactly make me the most creative thing alive. I mean, when it came to coming up with ways to clear obstacles quickly, or how to spoil Eggman's plans, or finding my own style doing something… but the problem at hand was different.<p>

Well, maybe I should think of it that way, I just gotta find my own way getting presents for my friends. I was Sonic the Hedgehog; I'd handle things, right?

A small backpack slung over my right shoulder, I was slowly walking through the streets of Spagonia. The city looked nice in winter, with the mountains around it all white and beautiful, and the small alleyways and the stone houses covered in snow. Chains of electric lights had been spanned over the streets and a few icicles were hanging down from the roofs' edges.

I strolled rather aimlessly along various shop's windows and ended up at a store for toys and games. In its window, a small electric train was going along equally small rails. I watched it go into a tunnel, come out the other side and run over a small bridge. For almost two minutes I stood and watched the little train go, then I decided to have a look inside the shop.

Going past the shop's shelves, I got to try out a few rc cars, almost laughed my head off about one of those plush parrots that repeat what you say to them and its attempts screaming 'I am the Eggman', juggled with various balls and played with another little train… but while it was really fun and all, I still found nothing that seemed suited as a present for either of my friends.

I sighed, standing in the middle of all this awesome stuff. The problem was Tails wasn't like all those other eight-year-old kids. For most children his age, a little train or the talking parrot would probably be a great present. But the thing was, my little bro build his own planes and everything. You had to find something more… _awesome_ than a plush toy or a radio controlled car or plane. Back when I was Tails' age, a little car or a ball or a pair of skates would have really done it. But Tails… Hm.

Knuckles was another matter; he wasn't exactly in the age range where you enjoyed things like that anymore, was he? Okay, admittedly, _I_ still am in this age range… I could spend a day playing around with all this stuff.

But Knux is… different. I don't think he ever got to play with things like that when he was small, what might be partly the reason why you have to shove everything fun in his face and pretty much force him into trying it. Knux and free time activities is always quite a hassle. In the end he enjoys them, but until you're there… Boy. I chuckled to myself. But no, the talking parrot and the cars aren't quite the thing for Knuckles.

Back outside on the street, I found it had started to snow a little again, thousands of small ice crystals were falling from the sky. For a moment I watched them slowly float down. They always looked so light. Snow really was my favourite form of water. You couldn't drown in it, and it was a lot of fun. I love running in snow, the sound when it crunches under your feet, how it's soft and cushioning your steps. And of course all the other things you could do in snow. Skiing, sledding, snowboarding… Thinking of snowboards reminded me of something, but I couldn't quite place it and shrugged it off after a moment.

Walking down the street again, I forced my attention back to my present problem. Finding something for Knuckles brought along another thing I had to consider: He would need a place to put the present. Okay, you'd think having a whole island to yourself gives you enough place to store presents your friends give you, but I didn't really trust Knuckles' housekeeping qualities. He spent most of his time outside and there wasn't electricity on the Floating Island. So anything involving the latter could also be crossed out… My non-existent list of ideas was shrinking again.

I passed by a sports store and quickly played through a few ideas, but nothing rang any bells as a thing Tails or Knux would really enjoy. Kinda weird, if I was to find a present for myself, I'd need to think very hard what _not_ to get 'cause there's so many awesome stuff. I mean, I can normally read Tails like an open book. I guess that's just what you can do with your little brothers. And Knux… I know exactly which of his various buttons to press to provoke him into a fight or doing something stupid.

But so far I had found nothing to give to either of them… And they were the two persons on the planet I knew best! More than that, they were the only ones I really actually trusted. They saved my life and I saved their's more often than I can count. Although I'm not so sure how far I _can_ count, actually…

But that's really not the point. Those two are my bestest friends, and I can't even think of something they'll like. I looked at my reflection in one of the windows next to the street. Does that make me like… a bad friend? The blue hedgehog in the dark mirror image flattened his ears and I suddenly noticed how sheepish it made me look. I really couldn't help it, I grinned at myself and shook my head, dislodging some of the snow flakes that had settled on my quills and now fell down around me. In the reflection on the glass it looked as if it had started to snow a lot more suddenly, just in the half a meter around me. Quite funny, actually.

I gripped around the rucksack' strap running over my right shoulder and hopped up the stairs before me. I was really thinking too much. I'd just run into something sooner or later, that was basically how my life worked.

The wide square in front of Spagonia's famous university looked quite different from the way I remembered it. The waterworks and fountains had been turned off and the small ponds where filled with clear, almost glass-like ice. In spite of the cold and snow, there were even more people around than usually and nearly the entire free space had been stuffed with tiny huts and houses. It was like a miniature village.

Music was playing from somewhere around, but I couldn't locate where exactly it came from. Mobians and humans alike were walking past the little huts, looking at the stuff inside them. Walking slowly again, I wandered past a few offering decoration and jewellery, then my fine nose caught way too many smells to place them all at once and I stood on the tips of my toes to look around and find out where they came from.

The source turned out to be a hut filled to the roof with sweets, candies, all the tasty stuff really. I stepped up to the counter, again standing on my toes to be able to properly look over it. Someone tell those humans we're not all as tall as them…

"Ah, hello!" The hut's owner had apparently spotted me; he was looking at me with a wide smile, his grey eyes behind large, round glasses smiling as well. "Can I help you?"

I let my eyes roam the bucketloads of sweets. "Do you have mint candy?"

"Of course." The elder human chuckled, his woollen cap swaying a little on his head.

"Great." I grinned. "I'll take a bunch of those."

The candy man grinned as well now. "A bunch? How much is that?"

"Uh…" I shrugged. "I guess, eh…"

He laughed, digging in something behind the counter I couldn't see, then he held up a paper bag. "Do you think your bunch fits in here?"

I nodded. "Looks right perfect, yeah."

The human started filling the bag. "Anything else you'd like?"

I looked over the candy store again. "Is there anything with grapes in it?"

He indicated a box at the top of one of the shelves. "I got sweet raisins with walnuts pieces. A speciality."

"Sounds good. I'll take a bunch of these, too." I flashed him a grin. "And another bunch of that stuff that smells so good."

The candy guy turned over his shoulder from filling the bag with the raisins. "You gotta mean the backed almonds." He closed the bag and placed it next to the one with the mint candy on the counter, then reached into one of the boxes and handed me a brownish piece of candy. "Here, try them."

I put the thing in my mouth. I could quite perfectly claim I'd never had anything like it. It was sweet, tasted a little of caramel, a little of nuts and a lot of other things. And it was crunchy. "I'll take a _big_ bunch of this awesome stuff," I announced.

The old human laughed. "Alright." He filled a big bag of almonds for me. "You're Sonic, right?"

I nodded. "Yup."

"Nice to see you back in Spagonia. Taking a break from chasing Eggman?" He smiled.

"Haven't heard anything of him in a while. Hiding somewhere, I guess. I'm here to find presents for my friends, but I haven't really found anything yet. At least they'll be getting tasty candy now." I smiled back.

"Why don't you check out Emma's, at the right of the university entrance? Maybe you'll find something there." He pointed his arm vaguely in the direction of the university building.

"Why not?" I nodded, running a hand through my spikes. "Thanks."

I paid for the candy, stuffed it all in my rucksack, not without stealing a handful of the almonds of course, said bye to the friendly candy store man and made my way through the narrow gaps between the tiny huts in the direction I'd been advised.

* * *

><p>Emma turned out to be even older than the candy man. She had a long, white hair and was sitting on a chair next to a kind of stand that had different sorts of handicrafts on it. I said hi and went to look at the stuff, and it didn't take long for me to pick out an item I actually liked.<p>

Carefully I reached out for it and picked it up. It wasn't big, just the size that fit perfectly in my hand. On a small, round base plate, three tiny, colourful figures where standing. Chao. One was sitting and watching the two others that were apparently chasing each other. Over the plate with the chao, a thin glass sphere was spanned out. I smiled and turned it over, waited a moment and flipped it around again, watching tiny snowflakes twirl around the chao. After a few moments the snow settled and when I wanted to turn it over again, I accidentally hit a small switch and a little tune was played.

I grinned. This thing was nice. Maybe it wasn't all that fancy… but everyone likes snow globes, right?

A minute later the little thing had joined the candy in my backpack. One down, one to go, huh? I grinned, strolling up the stairs toward the university. I had not gotten far when someone bumped into me. He stuttered a sorry and was about to vanish in the crowd when I held him back, staring.

"Excuse me, but where'd you buy that thing?" I pointed. Suddenly I knew what I'd get Knuckles.

* * *

><p>By the time my ears picked up to the familiar sound of the Tornado's engine outside, I was sitting on the floor in my room, in the middle of piles of kitschy, red paper wrap stuff. With little fir trees and oversized snowflakes on it. Really, why are the snow flakes the same size the trees are? … Either small trees or giant snow.<p>

Wrapping up the presents turned out quite a challenge, neither of them had exactly a good form for it and the first few pieces of paper I had cut out were simply too small to cover them completely. Especially my present for Knux didn't want to stay inside that paper wrap. Not that I'd want to if I were it…

In the end I ran out of paper, and time if I wanted to get this done while I was still on my own, and just used some extra tape to stick a few smaller bits of paper to the gaping holes in the wrap to cover them up. When I was done, I was in so far successful you couldn't see anything that was inside anymore, or even guess what it could be from the form. On the negative side that was about the only positive thing you could say about my present wrapping qualities; the result looked rather like scrunched up lumps of sorted-out colourful paper than present packets.

Whatever. I shrugged to myself. It wasn't that this was a style competition or something, and even if it were, my packets would clearly score extra points for originality.

I left them lying around on the floor for now and rushed downstairs to meet my friends. I was just in time; Tails parked the Tornado and the engine stopped when I was at the base of the stairs.

Tails tailicoptered out of the cockpit to land in front of me. "Hey, Sonic! Did you get your stuff done?"

"Yup." I smiled. "And you managed to find Knuckles." I turned towards the echidna who was climbing out of the Tornado's rear seat, a big leather bag tightly held in his arms. A kind of cape wrapped around his shoulders and he wore a long scarf around his neck. "Yo, Knux. How are things on your island?"

Knuckles tucked his large bag under his left arm. "Cold."

"Actually," Tails spoke up, head tilted at the red echidna, "that's kind of an understatement. It's a giant freezer up there."

"It's pretty cold here, too," I noticed. "Winter, I guess."

"You don't know, Sonic." Knuckles shook his head, long dreads swaying. "I swear it feels like spring down here."

I chuckled. "Okay, I get it. We herewith declare your place to be the third arctic region of Mobius."

"Scientifically speaking, it got an alpine climate," Tails threw in. "And that means that in winters –"

"It gets really cold, yes," Knuckles interrupted before the little fox had a chance starting a lecture about different climate zones or something.

"Thanks, Knux." I grinned.

Tails gave first me and then him an odd look. "Fine. Stay stupid."

"Hey, I'm not –"

"I think it was a joke," I cut in before _Knuckles_ got to start a rant now. "Come on, we can get your stuff upstairs. What's in it?" I pointed at the bag.

Knuckles was still holding onto it quite tightly. As if it could run off or something. "Uh, that's kind of a secret."

"He didn't want to tell me either," Tails added, bouncing once on the balls of his feet. "Is it a present, Knuckles?"

"He's not telling you," I insisted.

"Ohh…" Tails slumped his twin namesakes and ears. "But –"

"No, looking cute won't help it." I grinned, ruffling over Tails' headfur. "Come on, Knux. You can put it in the living room."

"Uh... okay." He shrugged, what nearly made him lose the hold of his weird bag and he quickly scrambled to get a firm grip on it again.

I quirked an eyebrow. "Seriously, are you keeping life animals in this thing?"

Knuckles shook his head. "Nope. But I'm not telling _you_ either." He grinned.

"Fine with me." I shrugged, climbing up the stairs before the others. I opened the living room door and gestured the echidna inside. "Here, find a nice place for your holy bag of secret echidna stuff."

The Emerald guardian gave me a weird look, one eyebrow up, the other down, kind of half frowning. I seriously don't know how he does it. His eyes rested on me with that look for a second or two, then they went to roam our living room, the sofa almost in the middle of it, the low table in front of it, and our little fir tree.

For a short moment an amused expression darted over his face, but in spite of my expectations and of what everyone else would have probably done, he didn't go to place his bag under or next to the little tree, instead he stuffed it into the narrow space under the sofa. He let go of it very carefully, eying it with a purely suspicious expression, then finally seemed satisfied with the way he placed it and stood upright again. "Okay." Seeing the look on Tails' face that was surely also on mine, he lifted his hands as if to defend himself. "What?"

"Nothing." I grinned, shaking off the bit of confusion. After all, this was Knuckles I was dealing with.

Tails shook his head, but then a thought struck him that seemed of higher priority than the weird bag stuffed under the sofa. "Can we make cookies now, Sonic?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

* * *

><p>Through the living room window I could see the dark of an early winter evening closing in behind a curtain of wildly twirling snow. Looked like the weather had decided to use the coming night to completely bury the house. Not that I'd really care. A baking tray of cookies was currently in the oven and the three of us were gathered around the little fir tree in the living room's corner.<p>

Tails sat in front of a large cartboard box that contained what decoration we owned for the tree. He was digging into it with both hands and passed whatever object he unearthed and found should be fitted to the tree to Knuckles or me.

I took another colourful little ball from Tails and searched for a free branch to put it. "I think we have enough of the balls now. There's hardly any space left for other stuff…"

Knuckles tilted his head, studying the tree. "It's looking like it was full of weird fruits."

I gave him a look. "Don't eat the decoration."

The echidna humphed. "I'm not the one of us who's always thinking of food," he insisted.

"Hey, it was you who said they look like –"

"Guys?", Tails cut in.

"Yeah?", we chorused accidentally and I suppressed a laugh at it.

"Peace." Tails smiled.

"Uh, okay." Knuckles rubbed the back of his head. "What else do you want to put on the tree, Tails?"

"This!" The little fox held up a handful of glittering stuff.

"Ah." Knuckles frowned at it. "What was it called again?"

"Tinsel." I took some of it from Tails and waved it in front of Knuckles, then dropped it onto my head. "One could also use it as a wig."

Knuckles chuckled. "You look like an idiot."

I stuck out my tongue at him. "Thanks. But if it makes you happy, I'll stick it to the tree instead."

"Actually," the echidna mused, pretending to study my appearance, " you look not much less of an idiot now…"

"Didn't you make peace for today?" Tails smiled sweetly.

"He started it!" I pointed a finger at the red guardian.

"I was just kidding!", Knuckles complained. "Sonic does that all the time!"

Tails didn't commend on it, instead he turned his head towards the door and sniffed. "Is there something burning?"

I clasped a hand to my mouth. "Crap. The cookies!"


	2. Part Two

_**Part Two**_

From where I was sitting on the sofa, I suspiciously studied the tray placed on the couch table. The little rounds lying on it ranged in color from a dark brown to pitch black. I reached out a hand and picked up one of the less dark specimen, fully aware of the two pairs of eyes watching my doing as I bit down on it.

"And?", Tails asked, head tilted aside as he looked at me chew.

I swallowed the bite. "Well, they're… crunchy?"

Tails giggled. "That's kinda obvious."

Knuckles was more forward than Tails at the moment, it seemed. "Do they taste of anything else but coal briquette?"

I laughed, eyeing the cookie in my hand. "Yeah. There's some cookie flavour hidden beneath it, I guess."

The echidna took a cookie for himself and also tried a bite, giving me a strange look as he strainedly chewed on it. "Uh-hu…"

I shrugged in what wasn't quite meant as an apologizing gesture. "Well, we got snow outside, a tree, cookies… All you need for a great holiday. Don't pay too much attention to the little details."

"Guess you're right and it could be worse," Tails agreed, smiling. "But there's still one thing missing."

I ran a hand down my spikes, pretending deep thought. "Uh, what do you mean?"

"You haven't forgotten, have you?" Tails' ears drooped and I couldn't hold back a grin anymore.

"Of course not, squirt. You want to open the presents now, huh?"

Tails nodded eagerly, twin tails trashing in excitement. "Yes! I'll get yours!" He jumped from his seat, almost tipping himself over the low table as he dashed out of the room.

"This stuff's really important to him, huh?", Knuckles noticed.

I was still grinning when I headed for the door as well. "Yeah. No matter how many planes he builds and how many times more clever than the two of us he becomes, he stays a _little_ guy."

* * *

><p>When I re-entered the living room, Knuckles was leisurely leaned back on the sofa, his right foot resting on his left knee and the left foot standing right in front of where his bag remained stuffed under the sofa. Tails was already there as well, he sat on the very edge of the sofa next to the echidna, two neatly wrapped colourful packets in his lap and his twin tails playing behind his back.<p>

I dropped into the armchair to the right of the little fox and placed my two excuses for present packets on the couch table in front of me.

Tails' blue eyes had followed my every move and as soon as I was sitting he shoved one of the almost cubic little boxes he held to me. "That's for you," he announced unnecessarily, double tails wagging.

I smiled. "Thanks, Tails! It looks a lot nicer than any of mine…" I nodded towards the lumps of paper on the table.

Tails smiled at me. "That's not important. Are you going to open it?"

My smile grew broader. "Should I?"

Tails nodded eagerly and Knuckles' face wore a smirk as he nodded. "Go ahead. I wanna see what's in it."

I undid the bow and paper around what probably was a cardboard box. "Seriously, Tails, how do you do it so it looks like it's _supposed_ to look like that?"

"Uh, I dunno…" Tails giggled.

"I suppose he's more skilled than you," Knuckles put in.

"Possible. " I shrugged and flipped open the little cardboard box I had fully revealed by now. Inside, there was a lot of fluffy cotton stuff and something small that lay in the middle of it all. I reached inside and pulled it out, finding the thing was a flat, tiny object with a thin, long cable attached to it. I realized what it was when I spotted the double ends of that cable. Small earphones. "Is that a radio or something, Tails?"

"It's a music player. It can receive radio programs of course, but you can also store all kinds of files on it," Tails explained. "Actually, it's not the function that's unique about it. Everybody got a mobile music player…"

"I don't," Knuckles threw in dryly.

"I designed this one especially," Tails continued without minding the comment, "for you, Sonic, so you can listen to music when you're going for a run. I thought that'd be nice, but any normal player will stand neither the pressure of wind your running makes nor the force of an impact should you run into something."

I lifted an eyebrow at that. I didn't run into stuff _that_ often!

"Like a robot, I mean," Tails quickly added seeing my look.

I flashed a grin at him. "Ah. Sure."

"And it's water-proof. And fire-proof. It's practically indestructible."

"Pretty much perfect for him," Knuckles noticed mockingly. I shot him a death glare, the opted to ignore the echidna.

"I didn't plan to go into any water, nor put myself on fire, but cool, Tails." I looked down on the small device, then smiled at the little fox. "Really, I can't wait to try it. And you're sure I can hear the music it plays even if I go supersonic?"

Tails nodded. "Of course. Since you're taking it with you, it's not moving at all relative to you."

"Ah... I didn't understand that, but I'm sure you thought about everything." I grinned. "Thanks, Tails. Cool present."

The two-tailed fox beamed and his namesakes were now wagging happily behind him. For a few seconds he remained like that, then he seemed to remember the second box still on his lap and turned to Knuckles. "I got something for you of course, too. Here!"

Knuckles smiled and took it from Tails, inclining his head at him. "Thank you, Tails."

"What are ya waiting for? Open it!" I grinned again, placing my new music player on the table.

Carefully Knuckles began removing the wrap, as if he was trying not to tear it. Of course the fragile stuff did tear anyway and he frowned at it. For a moment I thought he would get mad at the stuff now, but then he unearthed a box slightly larger than the one I had received and forgot about the uncooperative paper.

Tails watched closely as Knuckles pulled out a black thing about the size and dimensions of a chocolate bar. He turned it around slowly and you could read it on the echidna's face he had no idea what that thing was supposed to be. Mind him, I didn't either.

Luckily, we had Tails. "Before you keep wondering what that is, I'll explain it, okay?"

Knuckles nodded and passed the unidentified present to Tails. "What's it? You built it, right?"

"Yes, I did." Tails nodded. "It is an Emerald detector. To be specific, it is a Master Emerald detector." He looked up at Knuckles. "Now before you tell me you don't need anything like that because you can feel it, let me explain, okay?"

Knuckles nodded. "I wasn't going to –"

Tails smiled as he interrupted the echidna. "Okay. Anyway, I know you can feel the Master Emerald and also know which direction it is from where you are, but I also know when it's in pieces you can only tell how far a piece is away, and that only if you're close enough to it. Right?"

The red guardian nodded slowly. "Uh-hu."

"So, if the Master Emerald is shattered, you spend a lot of time just running around trying to get close enough to a scattered piece so you can feel it," Tails continued and Knuckles nodded again. "Now, don't get me wrong, I really hope it'll never come to the Emerald being shattered again, but you never know, huh? So, I thought of a way to make finding back the pieces easier for you if that should happen."

I bit back a grin at Knuckles' look. He quite certainly didn't expect anyone would think anything near as much about possible troubles he had with this giant glowing stone of his.

"This device," Tails touched a fingertip to what I was sure was a screen by now, causing it to light up, "is based on the Chaos Emerald detectors I used a couple of times. I modified it so it'll also track energy patterns given out by the Master Emerald, or pieces of it."

I leaned closer to my friends so I could get a look on the screen as well. It was a black background with a red dot in the middle of it, a pulsing blue dot slightly off to the left and a very weak pulsing green dot next to the red one. "What are those dots, Tails?", I asked.

"The red one is us, or specifically it's this device's position. The map is always facing in the direction you're holding the detector," Tails replied.

"What happens if I turn around when I hold it?", Knuckles queried.

Tails turned the flat device about ninety degrees around so it was pointing at me now. The blue pulsing dot now was above the red one. "See? Blue dots are Chaos Emeralds. This one is the Emerald I have in the Tornado. And it is right through the door behind Sonic."

"Ah, I see." Knuckles smiled a little. "It really works. How do Master Emerald pieces look?"

Tails frowned a little. "Actually, they're green dots. I think something is disturbing the detector, 'cause it's showing a very tiny piece right next to us."

"Maybe it's Knux," I suggested.

"I'm not an Emerald piece," the echidna noticed acerbically.

I shrugged. "No, but you're the guardian. Maybe you give a reading, too."

Strangely, Tails didn't seem to dislike my idea that much. "It's possible. Maybe also Angel Island would cause an echo on the radar, after all it's full of the Master Emerald's energy."

Knuckles' violet eyes briefly flicked down to the bag under his seat and he shrugged. "Could be. But if it already picks stuff if there isn't an actual Emerald piece around, I'm sure it'll also find a real piece if I need it to."

Tails smiled. "I guarantee it will! From a ten miles distance, minimum!"

Now Knuckles looked impressed. "Wow. That's, to use Sonic's vocabulary, really cool, Tails. Thanks."

Tails again looked as if he had received a present himself already. "You're welcome!"

I looked between the others. "You wanna have the stuff I got now?" I pointed at the present packets in front of me. "We have to free the poor presents out of the lousy wrap I forced them in…"

Tails giggled and also Knuckles gave a chuckle, taking back the Emerald detector from Tails. I used that opportunity to put my packet into the fox' now free hands.

"For me?", he asked.

"No, for Eggman." I grinned. "Of course it's for you, bro."

Tails laughed and started to unwrap the present. Since the paper hardly fit together at all that wasn't very hard. It basically fell off, revealing the little snow globe. Tails lifted it up and looked into it, not saying anything for a couple of moments and I wondered if he didn't like it.

"Uh, you know, I couldn't really think of anything awesome enough for you," I started. "You always build so amazing stuff for me and I never have anything cool in return. I thought this one was nice to look at and… It plays a melody. I thought you can put it next to your bed and next time there's a thunderstorm you don't have to be scared… It's stupid, but it's kinda calming looking at it, I think…"

Tails shook the snow globe softly, causing it to start snowing onto the chao. He found the switch as well and it played its short melody. "Sonic?"

"Yeah?" I knew I was looking sheepish again.

"It's great." Tails smiled at me past the snow globe in his hands. "Look at the chao. There's three of them. Just like us! I'm the one that's sitting there, and you're those that are chasing each other because you got into another silly fight!"

Knuckles grinned. "I'm the one chasing then, and Sonic better run faster 'cause I'll catch him and kick his tail."

I had never considered the resemblance. "So you really like it?"

Tails nodded eagerly, shaking the snow globe again, causing another minature snow storm in it. "It's beautiful, really. Thanks, Sonic. And it's not stupid at all. Right, Knuckles?"

"It looks nice," the echidna allowed, watching the snow fall onto the group of chao.

"You like it? Aw, had I known that I would have gotten one for you, too." I grinned at him.

"I don't get one? Too bad." The guardian smirked, irony subtly going with his tone.

"Nah, you get something else." I passed him his present and kicked back on my seat. Unlike the one for Tails, I was sure with this one that Knuckles would enjoy it.

Not near as carefully as he had been with Tails' present, the red echidna started opening it.

"How comes you were going so easy on Tails' packet and not on mine?", I asked, grinning. It wasn't that I really minded it, I was just making conversation.

Knuckles briefly looked up at me. "You know, it looked like I could destroy something on Tails' packet…"

"Ah, and mine doesn't really look like there was anything more to destroy than there already is?" I shrugged. "You're probably right. Just rip it open."

Knuckles complied immediately. The paper dropped to the floor, and the present into his hands. He stared at it. "That's –" He blinked and looked up at me.

I grinned brightly again. _Bingo_. "You know, I was somewhat involved with you losing the last you had. I thought you liked it a lot, so I got a replacement."

"Put it on, Knuckles!", Tails requested, finally stopping to gaze into the snow globe.

"In here?" The echidna looked between the brown cowboy-style hat and us.

"Sure, why not?" I chuckled. "I wanna see if it even fits!"

"Okay." Knuckles put the hat on, pulled a little on the brim of it to adjust it, but it fit surprisingly well. The echidna smiled. "Too cool."

"Next time you go treasure hunting, you're at least properly dressed," Tails said, studying Knuckles' appearance.

"He looks almost bad-ass with it, doesn't he?" I laughed.

Knuckles shot me a look from beneath his new hat's brim. "Just _almost_?"

Now all three of us laughed. It wasn't often you saw Knuckles adapting just a bit of my usual cockiness after all, and something about it was incredibly funny.

"Oh, before I forget," I said still chuckling, "What's in that bag of yours now?"

"It _is_ a present, isn't it?", Tails added curiously.

Knuckles nodded. "Yes, it is. You know I don't really have resources for presents up on my island, that's why you're getting one thing together."

"That's fine, Knuckles," Tails assured, smiling and throwing looks to the bag at the echidna's feet. "What's it?"

"Well," the guardian leaned down to pull the bag out from underneath the sofa, "while I can't make or buy you anything useful, I've gotten you something you can only get from a floating island." He sat upright again and passed the bag over to Tails sitting next to him. "Be careful."

"Is it that heavy?", Tails asked.

"No, not exactly…You'll see." Knuckles shoved the bag into Tails' arms.

I leaned closer, now interested again. When Knuckles let go of it, Tails' grip on it apparently wasn't firm enough, it slipped out of the fox' hands, but instead of falling to the floor like I expected, it remained floating in front of Tails, over the gap between the sofa and table, about half a meter above the floor. "Wow. Is that some kind of trick?"

Tails stared. "It's flying!"

I reached out and softly pulled on the strap of the bag that was hanging down to the side. It bobbed up and down slight as it floated over to me, as if we were in space. Just that we weren't. "Cool… But now I wanna know what's in it." I carefully opened the bag and manoeuvred the mysterious content out of the bag. The latter dropped to the floor when I succeeded, leaving an about fist-sized piece of rock floating in front of me between my hands. It totally looked like your average pebble… just that it was flying.

Tails stretched out a finger and touched it to the floating stone, causing it to start spinning gently on the spot. "How does that work?"

Knuckles finally seemed compelled to say something again. "This is one of the stones that usually float under Angel Island's main landmass. Some of them are meters thick, some are even smaller than that one. They all have in common that, just like Angel Island itself, they are filled up with a certain amount of the Master Emerald's energy field. They're all linked through it. If the island moves up or down or in some direction, all the smaller chunks of rock around it follow. I don't know exactly how it works."

"Maybe I can find out!", Tails called excitedly.

"If anyone can, you do, squirt." I chuckled. "Hey, can you steer that stone, Knux? You can steer the island."

Knuckles shook his head. "I can persuade the Master Emerald to change the island's course or altitude. If I do that, it affects the entire island, not just one small piece of stone loosely linked to it."

"Ah. So, if you steer your island around, this stone will also fly around?" I gave the flying piece of rock another soft push to get it to spin again.

"It'll move slightly, in the direction the island moves as well. But it's too far away from it now for it to follow the island like it used to." Knuckles watched the stone spin around itself.

It was really fascinating to look at. Not everybody has a miniature floating island in their living room, I thought.

Miniature floating island… I blinked, shooting a glance from the stone in front of me to Knuckles on the sofa. That's what he brought us. A mini version of his home, no, a tiny _part_ of his home. Knuckles of all people. Knuckles to whom his island and the giant Emerald on it were more valuable than anything else. He'd given _us_ a piece of it. A tiny one, sure, a piece of debris that used to fly around under the island, but still. It was a piece of what meant most to him. He had not only joined us in celebrating our 'surface traditions' as he called it once, he brought us something precious to him as a present for it. Wow. I... had to admit that I felt somewhat flattered now.

"How'd you get it?", Tails asked, pulling me out of my thoughts although the question clearly wasn't meant for me.

"Basically, I climbed down the side of the island, glided to catch it and climbed back up." Knuckles' answer sounded simple, but you could guess that climbing down the steeply sloped, in the 'wrong' direction even, base of the island, catching one of the flying stones and going up again wasn't something you'd do in five minutes without breaking a sweat.

"That's not the whole story, is it?"

Knuckles shrugged. "What are you trying to say, hedgehog?"

"I'm trying to say thank you for this really awesome flying piece of stone you got us," I gave back, flashing him a smile. "Really, it… means a lot to me." I ran a hand through my headspines. Why do I always feel so awkward when saying things like that?

Luckily, I wasn't the only one. Knuckles cleared his throat. "You're welcome. And… thanks for inviting me, and getting me this cool hat and this useful Emerald tracking thing."

Tails giggled lightly. "You're very welcome, too! We'll find a good place for your stone, I promise. And we'll invite you again if you want to."

Knuckles inclined his head and it gave him an almost formal look. "That'd be nice, Tails."

I grinned, looking between the rotating floaty stone and Knuckles still wearing that hat. "You know, I think next time we'll introduce you to searching Easter Eggs."

"Hey, you should be really good at this!", Tails exclaimed. "You got a lot of practice searching stuff!"

Knuckles frowned a little, but then he grinned. "Sounds as weird as this holiday with the fir trees and presents to me. But as long as Eggman's not involved with those eggs you're talking about…"

"No, he's not." Tails laughed.

"Good. Maybe I'll come. There'd be just one more thing." He looked at me.

"What?"

"Does this other holiday involve you burning cookies as well?" Knuckles' tone was serious, but a smirk was playing around his lips.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault they got a little too brown!", I complained. "You didn't think of the cookies in the oven in time either! And -"

My half-hearted complaint was drowned out by an outburst of laughter that I couldn't resist for much longer than my two friends.

* * *

><p><em>So then... Merry Christmas, everybody! <em>:)


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